Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, February 28, 2014

The State Department responds (well, not really) to my question about Shaun Casey (update)

After my two posts expressing concern over Shaun Casey, the head of the State Department's Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives, and his silent visit to the West Bank with some viciously anti-Israel (and antisemitic) Christian leaders, I asked Matthew Lee of AP if he would ask the State Department about what happened on this trip. (Lee is well known for his relentless questioning of State Department officials. )

He kindly agreed and submitted the questions yesterday. Here was the exchange that happened at today's press briefing:

QUESTION: Okay. So then, on the meetings that Mr. Casey had --

MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: -- with the religious leaders, including some that are allegedly anti-Israel, can you – what do you have to say about that?

MS. PSAKI: Sure. Well, during his recent trip to the region, Special Advisor Shaun Casey met with a wide range of religious leaders, from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths. So this is – part of the context here is, of course, very important.

QUESTION: Okay, wait. Just before you go on, he did not just meet with Palestinian and Christian leaders? He met with all members of all their different faiths?

MS. PSAKI: Correct. Exactly.

QUESTION: Or leaders of all --

MS. PSAKI: Exactly.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS. PSAKI: And this was, of course, part of our ongoing outreach to religious communities vis-a-vis the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He also met with local interfaith organizations and international faith-based development groups, and he hopes to continue to engage on an even more diverse range of religious voices in future visits. As you know, this is kind of a newer position and he just came to the State Department a couple of months ago, so this serves an interesting utility in terms of reaching out to faith groups around these important policy issues.

QUESTION: And what do you think of the concerns expressed by some in Israel that he met – that he was giving credibility, credence to anti-Israel figures?

MS. PSAKI: Well, I think I would point to the fact that he met with a very broad range of officials from across the faith spectrum. And it’s important to us, it’s important to Mr. Casey, to hear from a range of officials, to have a dialogue with them. And that was the pure purpose of his engagement.

QUESTION: Right. Well, there was one specific meeting that caused some extra concern. Do you – can you say anything about that?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have anything more to say about it.

QUESTION: All right.

My very simple question is - what Jewish (and Muslim) leaders did he meet? No one seems to know.

UPDATE: Yisrael Medad found one more Christian site he visited, Bethlehem Bible College.

The President of Bethlehem Bible College, Rev Dr. Jack Sara together with members of the college leadership team, Dr. Bishara Awad, President Emeritus, Dr. Munther Isaac, Mr. Jamal Ateeq and Ms Nisreen Nassar, met Dr. Casey and his officers and together they discussed issues of importance to Palestinian Christians, and in particular, the role of the Palestinian church in politics and in the peace process. They also talked at length about the up-coming Christ at the Checkpoint Conference and the impact that such an international event can have in promoting peace.

"Christ at the Checkpoint" is a virulently anti-Israel conference that last year portrayed Israelis as "The Impossible People" who stand in the way of peace. It has speakers who support the PFLP terror group.

So far, Casey's record of who he secretly visited does not seem to be very conducive to peace.

Thanks to Israel haters, we know where to buy incredible toys - part 1 (update)

I mentioned on Monday that Haaretz made up some numbers of Israelis who boycott settlements pretty much out of thin air, because Gush Shalom assumed that everyone who visited their webpage listing settlement products were boycotters.

People then asked in the comments where to get this list so they could buy these products themselves!

Usually, when you see lists of Israeli products made by Jews across the Green Line, they are mostly wines and artwork. This is all very nice but I would like something more practical.

Luckily, the people who hate Israel already spend hour upon hour trying to figure out which products are made in Israel and in Judea and Samaria, so we don't have to!

And one product that Israelis excel at is toys.

According to the hate site Inminds, no less than five toy manufacturers with international reputations are based out of, or have factories or stores in, the settlements. These toys help children develop cognitive and motor skills. If the haters want to boycott them and keep their kids at a disadvantage because of their disgust for Jews living across a non-existent border, that's fine by me.

TinyLove makes innovative toys for babies. Check out this video, showing only one of their many products:

Inminds, while telling us to boycott Tiny Love, mentions that "in 2004 the company held a 25 percent global market share for musical mobiles and activity gyms."

The boycotters also helpfully inform us that "the popularity of Tiny Love products has opened the doors for the marketing of Shilav children's clothing abroad, which has also proved successful." And that "one of the stores of Tiny Love parent company Shilav is located on the West Bank in Shilat in no-mans land."

Isn't that great? The haters do the research for us!

Any parent that decides do deprive their baby of these award-winning toys because of their hate for Israel is a pretty lousy parent. Then again, who would have guessed that people who are so obsessed with telling others to boycott the Jewish state were bright to begin with?

Now we know where to get the perfect gifts for families welcoming newborns. They are wonderful to help with a baby's development, they are Israeli products, and they drive the haters insane. How much better can it get?

More great toy companies in upcoming posts.

UPDATE: A commenter noted that Tiny Love was sold to a Canadian company last month.

02/27 Links Pt2: Scarlett Johansson Breaks Her Silence on SodaStream; “Sky Shield” Tested

From Ian:

Scarlett Johansson defends herself for first time since Super Bowl SodaStream ad which saw her dropped as Oxfam ambassador for breaching charity's Israeli boycott

She quit her role as Oxfam ambassador in a row over her controversial Super Bowl advert for SodaStream - and chose to keep her links with the Israeli fizzy drink firm.
Now speaking for the first time since she severed her ties with the humanitarian group, Scarlett Johansson insists she never saw herself as a role model in the first place.
In an interview with Dazed magazine, Johansson did not directly address the row with Oxfam, but said: 'I don’t see myself as being a role model; I never wanted to step into those shoes.
The 29-year-old actress said she had a 'fundamental difference of opinion' with the charity after it said it opposed all trade from Israeli settlements because they say it is illegal and denies Palestinian rights

Forgotten Even By Us: Judaism’s Historic Ties to Israel

With Palestinian Arabs claiming Canaanite descent, the Jewish people must make their case for their historical ties to the land of Israel. The biblical era, from Israelite origins in the land through the Second Temple’s destruction, is well-known in the West. The tenacious continued Jewish presence thereafter isn’t.‎
Former President Carter voiced a widely-believed misperception when he wrote regarding the year 135 CE: “Romans suppress(ed) a Jewish revolt, killing or forcing almost all Jews of Judaea into exile.” But the forgotten fact is that the Jews never left.
The great significance of this, stated by eminent British historian James Parkes, is that Jews have always had strong ties to the land due to the “heroic endurance of those who had maintained a Jewish presence in The Land all through the centuries, and in spite of every discouragement,” which gave the Zionists’“real title deeds.” Every ruler in between was a foreign invader, and mostly non-Arab at that. The homeland Jewish Yishuv saw them all arrive and depart.‎

Irreconcilable Conflict

Literary editor of the New Republic Leon Wieseltier is calling a new book written by his TNR colleague John Judis, a senior editor, “shallow, derivative, tendentious, imprecise, and sometimes risibly inaccurate” and also “insulting” and “nasty.”
The scathing remarks are contained in an email Wieseltier sent to historian Ron Radosh praising his negative review of the Judis book, which argues that Israel should not exist. Marty Peretz, the longtime former editor of TNR, remarked in 2010 that on the Middle East, “John Judis knows zero.”

Kuwaiti columnist: "Arabs need to have their brains examined"

From MEMRI:

In an Al-Arabiya TV interview, Kuwaiti columnist Fouad Al-Hashem, talking about the tendency of the Arab peoples to idolize leaders, said that they "need to have large portions of their brains examined."

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on January 16, 2014.

Fouad Al-Hashem: The late Saudi author Abdallah Al-Qusaimi wrote in one of his books that the Arabs are “all talk.” The truth is that the Arabs are, in fact, “all mental” – they need to have large portions of their brains examined.

[...]

I’ve come to believe that the entire issue of the robbing of Palestine was not just in order to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, but to enable the Arab and Muslim rulers to go on peddling this cause. Thus, they have turned their peoples into laughingstocks, and have managed to rule their countries.

Take Saddam Hussein, for example. As a Kuwaiti, this example is the most relevant to me. When he invaded Kuwait, he threatened to hang the bodies of the Americans from the walls of Baghdad. During his trial, Saddam said to the judge: “Without the Americans, neither you nor your father could have dragged me here.”

Interviewer: Besides, despite everything that Kuwait did for Iraq, when the moment came, Saddam decided to invade Kuwait, not Jerusalem.

Fouad Al-Hashem: This is another indication of the stupidity of this leader, who is still considered a hero by millions of Arabs. Saddam had already won the hearts of 90% of the Kuwaitis, and did not need to invade Kuwait and occupy it with his tanks. If only he had been smarter... I kept asking myself whether he was a collaborator, a madman, or a fool.

[...]

In my view, on Judgment Day, 90% of the inhabitants of Hell will be Arabs and people who pretend to be pious Muslims.

[...]

When Operation Cast Lead broke out between Hamas and Israel, I was one of the harshest critics of Erdoğan and his inflammatory statements. I warned the Arab youth and the Gulf citizens about him, and I was sentenced to prison for this. If not for the integrity of the Kuwaiti justice system, I would have spent months behind bars because of my articles against Erdoğan. People followed him as if he was a new prophet.

Today, however, 4-6 years later, Erdoğan has been exposed, and people see someone different from the man they used to idolize.

Hizbullah has also become disillusioned with Erdoğan. Nasrallah himself used to refer to him in his speeches as “the good Erdoğan,” and used to place him on the same pedestal as Ché Guevara and the great freedom fighters, whose people still talk about them to this day.

Even Hassan Nasrallah, who talked about bombing “beyond Haifa” – where have his aspirations shifted to? Talk of “beyond Al-Qusayr” and “beyond Aleppo” has replaced “beyond Haifa” and “beyond Tel Aviv.”

Notice that even intellectual Arabs, those engaged in self-criticism, take it for granted that it is desirable to bomb Israel.

To AP, only Israel endangers peace

AP's Josef Federman writes:

Israel has opened a new front in its attempts to halt weapons smuggling to Hezbollah, striking one of the group's positions inside Lebanon for the first time since the sides fought a war eight years ago.

Hezbollah attacked Israeli soldiers in a border incident in 2010. An IDF soldier was shot and killed on that border in December. There have been a dozen rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory in recent years.

But Arab attacks from Lebanon to Israel are meaningless, in AP's estimation. Only Israel acts aggressively and recklessly. Just read on:

This week's airstrike, meant to prevent the Islamic militant group from obtaining sophisticated missiles, is part of a risky policy that could easily backfire by triggering retaliation. But at a time when the Syrian opposition says Hezbollah has been striking major blows for President Bashar Assad's government in neighboring Syria by ambushing al-Qaida-linked fighters there, it shows the strategic importance for Israel of trying to break the Syria-Hezbollah axis.

Hezbollah firing rockets or shooting soldiers isn't a risky policy. Hezbollah illegally acquiring advanced missiles isn't a risky policy that could backfire. Israel having the audacity to defend itself, though, is a risky policy.

While Israeli experts agree that Israel would never want to help al-Qaida, in this case Israel and the al-Qaida-linked fighters have as a common goal opposing Hezbollah and its alliance with the Syrian government. This puts them at least indirectly on the same side.

Say what?

Would AP ever report that the EU and USA, by demanding that Assad step down, is "indirectly" on the same side as Al Qaeda??

What is sad is that this sort of biased, amateur reporting is the norm.

(h/t Irene)

02/27 Links Pt1: Hamas says Teaching Human Rights is Against Palestinian, Islamic Culture

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas: Teaching Human Rights is Against Palestinian, Islamic Culture

What is also worrying Hamas is that UNRWA is seeking to teach Palestinian children about the disastrous repercussions of wars and violence by depicting a child burning a military uniform. "This does not serve the cause of human rights," the Hamas official said. "They want to raise children on calmness."
The Hamas protests forced UNRWA to suspend its plan to teach the subject of human rights in its schools. Some Palestinians criticized UNRWA for "succumbing" to threats, while others said they were aware that the international agency had no choice but to comply.
In an attempt to calm Hamas, UNRWA denied that its school curriculum contravened Palestinian tradition and culture.
A spokesman for UNRWA said that his agency consults with "all components of Palestinian society" about its human rights courses.
Hamas's real problem with the UNRWA curriculum is that it could spoil the Islamist movement's ongoing efforts to stir the hearts and minds of Palestinian children to wage jihad against the "enemies" of Islam.
Hamas wants Palestinian children to be taught how to become suicide bombers and seek the death of Jews and "infidels."

Israeli Foreign Ministry report on PA incitement with links to PMW reports

This week, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release criticizing Palestinian Authority incitement. The government's release included a section entitled "Examples of Incitement" with examples taken from Palestinian Media Watch reports. PMW welcomes the Israeli government's utilization of our findings. Below is a shortened version of the MFA press release into which we have added links to the original PMW bulletins to enable viewing of the videos, reading of the full translated texts and citation of the original sources:

IAEA nixed delicate report on Iran nuclear program

A UN report on Iran’s nuclear program was shelved by the International Atomic Energy Agency for fear that publicizing sensitive information contained within the report would anger Tehran and harm the international community’s efforts to reach an interim agreement with the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported Thursday.
Sources familiar with the subject told the news agency that the IAEA had planned last year to issue the report, which contained what one source called worrying information about the state of Iran’s nuclear program. This may have included new information on the possible military aspects of the program.
But officials decided against it after Iran and Western powers announced they would begin negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear aspirations.

David Ze'ev Jablinowitz is an English-language Kol Israel reporter. This is from his Facebook page:

So I'm speaking on a US campus, and during the question time that followed my remarks, a student asks how it can be that Judaism is older than Islam if the State of Israel wasn't established until 1948.

He adds:

This anecdote is part of an upcoming article; will keep you posted.

I am looking forward to it!

A commenter asked him what he answered, and he replied, "We have a little work to do here."

Unfortunately, he wouldn't say what campus he was on at the time.

(h/t Yisrael Medad)

Muslims attack church in Gaza

Palestine Press Agency reports that two nights ago people attacked a Latin church in Gaza City, and they spray painted slogans against attacks on Muslims in the Central African Republic.

The attackers tried to blow up a car belonging to the pastor, Father Jorge Hernández, but their Molotov cocktail failed to ignite.

Before they left the scene the attackers wrote that they vowed revenge for the Muslims in the Central African Republic, writing "The days of you O worshipers of the cross, in revenge for the Muslims in Central Africa."

Gaza has about a thousand Christians remaining after a series of attacks in the early days of Hamas rule.

Proof of bias in Amnesty's "Trigger-Happy" report

As I mentioned yesterday, Amnesty released a ridiculously biased report against Israel this morning. Now that the report is released, we can confirm Amnesty's bias.

Here is their commentary on one incident, in August in Qalandiya, where the IDF fired live ammunition at stone throwers:

Although the army stated that Palestinians were posing a danger to Israeli soldiers’ lives when the latter opened fire, the fact that one soldier only was lightly injured in the incident inevitably raises the question whether the Israeli soldiers who used live ammunition gunfire against the Palestinians protesters acted proportionately or resorted to the use of lethal force when this was not justified.

Here is video of the incident. Notice the size of the stones being thrown, including those stockpiled on the roofs, as well as some stones coming from much higher roofs that are out of the view of the camera:

Nah, nothing life-threatening about that!

According to Amnesty, the IDF must wait until a soldier is killed before using lethal force. I guess there is a concept in international law that I am unaware of that you may not defend yourself until you are physically injured first.

Or does that only apply to a single party?

A quick comparison:

This report on Israel killing (by Amnesty's count) 22 civilians in 2013 is 87 pages long. It goes into detail about every single one of those deaths, humanizing the victims and interviewing multiple friends of each, al lin an attempt to paint Israel in the worst light possible.

Amnesty's report about Egyptian repression since July 2013, where 1400 people were killed, is only 49 pages long. It only provides details on a few specific cases, and most of those aren't even for people being killed but for other violations of human rights.

In the report about Israel, Amnesty serves as judge and jury in its "conclusions and recommendations:"

Israeli soldiers have repeatedly committed serious human rights and humanitarian law violations, including unlawful killings, in response to Palestinian opposition and protests in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The cases documented in this report represent only a minority of the cases that have occurred over recent years and which follow a general pattern, in which Israeli forces use excessive, often lethal, force against Palestinians who pose no threat to their lives or the lives of others. Soldiers are permitted to do so effectively with impunity – inasmuch as the official system established to investigate alleged human rights violations or other abuses by Israeli soldiers is neither independent nor impartial. This creates a situation of absolute absence of justice and the growing environment of impunity which the Israeli army and police enjoy

But for Egypt, Amnesty makes no such determinations. It does not flatly accuse Egyptian forces of human rights violations. It is merely "concerned" about the 1400 deaths, sexual abuse cases and destruction of basic freedoms:

Amnesty International is concerned that the Egyptian authorities are utilizing all branches of
the state apparatus to trample on human rights and quash dissent. Armed with repressive
legislation, including the latest assembly law; unaccountable security forces ready to
implement it against political opponents; and a complacent judicial system that punishes
critics while allowing perpetrators of human rights violations to walk free – the Egyptian
authorities have the necessary tools to take the country further on the path of repression.
Unless, the authorities change course and comply with commitments to respect human rights
and the rule of law, the future of Egypt looks bleak and the hopes of the “25 January
Revolution” have little chance of becoming a reality.

The anti-Israel bias is blatant.

The epic meltdown of an Israel hater at UCLA (NOW WITH MUSIC VIDEO!)

If you haven't seen this yet, you have got to check it out. From The Daily Caller:

A student at the University of California Los Angeles broke down in tears after the student government voted against the resolution she favored, which would have condemned the state of Israel and asked the university to support divestment.

The unnamed student was taking notes at the meeting where the vote occurred, according to Legal Insurrection. After the result — a 7-5 vote against the anti-Israel resolution — was announced, the student began crying hysterically and swearing at the student representatives for their failure to take a firm anti-Israel stance.

I wasn't going to post this, but I promised commenter jzaik that I would if he could provide a transcript. It is far from complete but it is the best anyone has. And even his best guesses are funny.

I never talk and I'm always like
(I don't always on the side..)
I always like respect all of you all so much.
But I've never been more F'ing disappointed than tonight.
Voting yes......Terrorize.
I respect all of you all so much.
I'm not like trying to be..
I'm so deep throat?
And I always bite my tongue through these meetings.
But I have my opinions
But I've never been so F'ing disappointed than tonight.
And we could've stopped it.
And we F'ing blew it.
I'm sorry. 12 hours
I'm sorry I'm like
And I'm just so disappointed.
I just want you to know that like
I know I've like done it all the time
But like..I still think it
And there were so many.....
I don't understand...
last thing
he got Paris.
it was just so terrible
And my sister was like
Cause she saw me on live screen
She's like oh what's wrong...why are you crying?
The whole world should be crying right now.

UPDATE: I couldn't resist.

02/26 Links Pt2: Norwegian Chain Quits SodaStream Boycott; ASA Cal. rejects Israel Boycott

From Ian:

Norwegian Store Chain Drops SodaStream Boycott

MIFF notified Staples it would publicize that Staples was a boycotting company, thus potentially hindering its international sales. Staples announced: “We want to make it clear: We still sells SodaStream. We take no position on political issues.”
General data shows BDS organizations have failed not only with Staples and SodaStream, but in regards to all trade between Israel a Norway. Norway’s Bureau of Statistics has recently published the preliminary figures for Norwegian external trade in 2013, and statistics show that Norwegian imports from Israel were at a total of 807 million Norwegian Krones (NOK), ($131 million), up from 761 million NOK in 2012.
In fact, for the fifth consecutive year imports from Israel to Norway have increased more than imports from other countries.

California Chapter of ASA refuses to apply anti-Israel academic boycott

Despite the ASA Executive Committee attempt to shut down the flow of information to me from ASA Regional Chapters, I again reached out to multiple Chapters as to whether the boycott would be applied at the regional level.
I can confirm that one of the most active ASA Chapters — the California American Studies Association (CASA) — will not apply the boycott to any of its activities, incuding the upcoming regional conference in April in Berkeley.
…. CASA has no intention of adhering to the ASA resolution; the boycott guidelines will not be applied to our upcoming conference in April…. The CASA officers discussed the ASA resolution, and we all agreed that CASA would not abide by the boycott.

UCLA Student Council rejects anti-Israel divestment resolution

After an all-night session, the UCLA student council defeated an ant-Israel divestment resolution by a vote of 7-5. (Featured image is moment vote announced.)
The vote received enormous attention, and was trending in the U.S. on Twitter.
This is a huge defeat for BDS on campus. Divestment resolutions recently were overturned at UC-Riverside and defeated at UC-Santa Barbara. I can’t say whether this is a national trend, but it does signify that pro-Israel students now are more organized than in the past.

BDS bad Karma: Co-op to report worst results in history

The Co-op Group's losses for 2013 are expected to be greater than £2bn, by far the worst in its history, when they are announced on 26 March.
I also understand that as the first stage in trying to revitalise the group as a whole, its chief executive, Euan Sutherland, will tell members of the Co-op's regional boards on Saturday that its substantial farming operation, which includes 15 farms, will be sold.
He will also reveal that Co-op is actively considering the sale of its 750 pharmacies, which generated revenues of £764m in 2012. "They are likely to be sold, but a formal decision hasn't yet been made," said a source. (h/t Rabbi Burns)

Jordanian group intimidating stores into not selling Israeli products

A new Jordanian group to boycott Israeli goods has started going to stores in Jordan to ensure that they do not sell any "enemy" products.

When stores are found to adhere to the boycott, they are asked to prominently display this tasteful poster of a bloody handprint on an Israeli flag so people know they can buy goods safely there.

The poster says:

Don't pay the price of the bullet that kills our sons
This store has no enemy products

The Nasheron gathering - cleansing initiative

According to the organizers, 30% of Jordan's shops already don't sell Israeli goods, 50% weren't aware of the issue and are willing to join the boycott, and 20% don't care.

Judging from the history of anti-Israel boycotts, we can expect soon to see violent threats and physical attacks against stores that sell Israeli goods in Jordan.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Amnesty proves its anti-Israel bias yet again

Tomorrow, Amnesty International is releasing a new anti-Israel report.

Before it is even released, we already know how ridiculously biased against Israel it will be - because of the title.

It is called "Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank."

Let's look at some numbers.

Last year, according to B'Tselem and the UN, the IDF killed 27 Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank. Compared to 2012, when 8 were killed in 2012, that is a 237% increase. It can be assumed that Amnesty will trumpet that number as evidence of the "trigger-happy" IDF.

What the report won't calculate is the percentage increase of Israeli deaths at the hand of West Bank Palestinian Arabs during the year. You see, in 2012, there were no Israelis killed by Arabs from the WB, but in 2013 there were five.

That's not an increase of 237% or 1000% or a million percent. That is an increase of infinity percent.

If Amnesty is going to compare percentages between two years, they should do it for both sides of the equation. But you know they won't, just like the UN didn't.

Now, let's return to the title.

Of the 27 killed, according to B'Tselem, the vast majority were either known terrorists, were involved in throwing stones or Molotov cocktails at soldiers, or were resisting arrest raids. Maybe 5 or 6 were in the wrong place at the wrong time during riots.

That isn't exactly wonderful, but it is a far cry from "trigger happy." One killed every two weeks when there are several violent riots every week, and over 75% of those killed being involved in attacking the soldiers first or being terrorists, is hardly a bad record and far from indicating the IDF being "trigger happy."

In contrast, in Egypt earlier this year, in a single day, over 54 protesters were killed. since July there have been nearly 1500 killed by Egyptian security forces. They are not called "trigger happy" by Amnesty.

In the Ukraine, more than 70 protesters were killed last week. Amnesty did not call Kiev's police "trigger happy."

Venezuela killed 11 protesters in the past couple of weeks. Nothing about them being called "trigger happy" by Amnesty.

Amnesty has never titled any other of its reports with the phrase "trigger happy."

All the others countries, while perhaps acting excessively, aren't as anxious to kill as those bloodthirsty, trigger-happy Zionist Jews, if reading Amnesty's report titles indicates anything.

We already knew that Amnesty was hopelessly biased. I've seen it first hand.

This is just another in the long line of examples, and yet another reason to prove that at least when it comes to Israel, Amnesty is utterly untrustworthy and hateful.

(h/t NGO Monitor)

02/26 Links Pt1: Amnesty's Moazzam Begg Arrested in Terror Case; Jordan's Panic over Peace Talks

From Ian:

Ex-Gitmo detainee latest to be suspected of terrorism

Western human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, promoted Begg's account of his experiences as a U.S. detainee but their association with him was controversial even among their own staffers.
Gita Sahgal, who headed Amnesty International's gender unit, was suspended by the organization in 2010 after objecting to Amnesty's association with Begg, whom she described as a leader of a pro-jihadi group and "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban," according to the London paper The Guardian.
The arrest of a former Guantanamo prisoner in England on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism is the latest example of a failed release program that is setting free unrepentant jihadists, an analyst says.
United Kingdom authorities on Tuesday arrested Moazzam Begg, a British citizen of Pakistani descent, on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism in Syria. Three others were arrested with him.

Guardian fails to reveal that Brit arrested for terror is ‘Comment is Free’ contributor

As we first learned from Guido Fawkes, Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who became a spokesman for the “human rights” group Cageprisoners, was arrested by British police on Tuesday morning for terror offences which he is alleged to have committed in Syria.
Begg is widely believed by American intelligence officials to have been a jihadist involved with Al-Qaida and reportedly attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the UK “so he could assist in waging jihad against enemies of Islam.” Begg reportedly assisted several prominent terrorists, recruited young operatives for jihad and provided financial support for terror camps.

Amnesty International Report Reflects Lack of Expertise and Methodology

Report based on faulty data calls for sanctions, coincides with annual BDS campaign
Jerusalem – A report scheduled to be released by Amnesty International tomorrow, Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank, falsely and maliciously accuses Israel of “callous disregard for human life,” according to analysis by NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research organization. The report also repeats Amnesty’s calls for political warfare against Israel, in the form of an arms embargo.
“Amnesty International accusations are reckless, blatantly biased, and reflect the lack of a credible research fact-finding methodology,” said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “Amnesty lacks the expertise and credibility to analyze or assign blame for deaths in the context of violent confrontations in the West Bank. As in the past, the allegations in this report repeat unverifiable Palestinian ‘testimony.’”

Peter Beinart, hypocrite

From Peter Beinart in Haaretz:

Last spring, some students at New York’s most prestigious Orthodox Jewish high school, Ramaz, eager for a greater diversity of perspectives on Israel, invited me to speak to their club. I did - and enjoyed it immensely - but told them I hadn’t solved their problem. If they wanted a truly open discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I ventured, they needed to do more than hear from both hawkish and dovish Zionists. They needed to hear from Palestinians.

To my surprise, they asked me to help make it happen. I recommended Columbia Professor Rashid Khalidi, partly because he’s a world-renowned expert on Palestinian history and partly because I know Orthodox Jewish graduate students who consider him a mentor and friend. Khalidi agreed; the students were thrilled. He was set to speak on February 19.

Next thing I knew, the head of the Ramaz Upper School had canceled the talk and students had gathered a petition demanding “open dialogue” about Israel.

...What does it say about the administrators at Ramaz that after immersing their high school students in a passionately Zionist environment for years and years, they lack the self-confidence to expose them to one lecture from a Palestinian?

When Peter Beinart was the editor of the ill-fated "Open Zion" experiment, he did not seek to include a single Jewish resident of Judea and Samaria as a regular writer. (He had one token right winger, and people he claimed were right-wingers but who support a two-state solution.)

I have never seen a Jewish resident of Judea and Samaria invited to speak at any event at Amnesty International, at Human Rights Watch, at any non explicitly Zionist event at any university, at any "Jewish Voice for Peace" event, or at any "Peace Now" event.

Why isn't Beinart deriding all of these groups for being against "open dialogue?" Doesn't their failure to invite right-wing Zionists to speak prove their lack of self-confidence in their positions?

Oh, no. Only right wing Zionists and right wing Orthodox Jews are uninterested in dialogue.

The media is filled with anti-Zionism as a given. The idea that Jews have a right to live in their ancestral lands - even those legally purchased by their very grandfathers - is anathema in the press. Right-wing Zionists are far, far more exposed to leftist opinions than vice versa. The extent of leftist knowledge of right-wing Zionist positions is that they are all either religious fanatics or hell-bent on ethnic cleansing; they could not even fathom any arguments for Jews living in Judea and Samaria based on international law, human rights or basic ethics. I've seen their arguments, and they do not usually go beyond proof by assertion. Doesn't that betray a lack of self-confidence in their positions?

Beinart, supposedly so interested in openness, only advocates openness for one side.

High school students don't exactly have the most mature knowledge of subject matter, yet Beinart insists that Zionist students be exposed to positions that go against their upbringing and their parents' wishes. But right-wingers are not welcome by leftist groups meant for adults!

Who is lacking self confidence?

Are there any Catholic high schools that would invite an atheist to speak to their students? Are there any that would invite gay activists to speak to their students? For that matter, would any public high schools ask people who advocate open marriages to speak? Would they invite the people behind websites that encourage people to cheat on their spouses to discuss Internet entrepreneurship? Isn't everything fair game? Doesn't this show a lack of self-confidence?

Or is that only an issue for Zionist Orthodox Jewish high school students?

If Ramaz students want to hear from Khalidi, there is no shortage of ways for them to access his books and articles. No one is stopping them. But that doesn't mean that their private school must invite an entire gamut of opinion that is antithetical to what that school teaches. This is common sense - to all except Peter Beinart.

Even worse, Khalidi - who Beinart praises so highly and wants to speak to young Zionists - is a liar. He claims that the 1936 riots that killed hundreds in Palestine were "non-violent." He claims that Jews are not a people. He lies about Avigdor Lieberman's positions. His history is filled with inaccuracies. And here we see that he pushes bizarre conspiracy theories.

So Beinart wants a lying, viciously anti-Israel activist who is against a two-state solution to spout propaganda to impressionable young Jews, but he does not say a word about dedicated Zionists making a fair case to non- and anti-Zionists. (Of course, Beinart's brand of "Zionism" is the most right-wing that is acceptable for dialogue, everyone to the right of him must not be heard.)

Is that hypocritical? You bet.

(h/t Alex)